This application relates to wireless handsets.
The speakerphone is a common tool for allowing more than one person to participate in a telephone conference on a single telephone. Speakerphones also allow a person to participate in telephone calls without holding a handset.
Wireless handsets, such as cellular and cordless telephones, have become more prevalent in everyday use. Manufacturers have sought ways to include speakerphone features in these handsets. The push for miniaturized handsets, however, has limited the manufacturer""s ability to include the speakerphone feature in cordless and wireless handsets. Moreover, a speakerphone must operate at a relatively high volume level, since the sound is projected through a room and not directly into a user""s ear. The earpiece in a cordless or wireless handset could cause hearing damage if the earpiece were to be placed against a user""s ear while the speakerphone is active.
In recognition of the above, the inventor has developed a handset that projects speakerphone signals through the backside of the handset. This ensures that high volume sound waves are not projected into a user""s ear even if the handset""s earpiece is placed against the user""s ear during speakerphone operation. Moreover, the handset""s back surface is designed to ensure that sound waves projected by the speakerphone are not muffled when the handset is placed backside-down on a rigid surface, such as a desktop or tabletop. The handset""s back surface and the rigid surface together form a waveguide that projects the sound waves into the surrounding room.
In one aspect, the invention features a wireless speakerphone. The speakerphone includes a protective housing, receiving circuitry that receives RF signals and outputs sound signals, and an earpiece speaker that receives some of the sound signals from the receiving circuitry and projects corresponding sound waves through a surface of the housing, such as the phone""s front surface. The speakerphone also includes a second speaker that receives some of the sound signals from the receiving circuitry and projects corresponding sound waves through another surface in the housing, such as the phone""s rear surface. The surface through which the second speaker projects sound waves opposes the surface through which the earpiece speaker projects sound waves.
In some embodiments, the speakerphone includes a path selector that delivers each of the sound signals from the receiving circuitry either to the earpiece speaker or to the second speaker. A selection component, such as a button or switch, is embedded in the housing to allow a user to toggle between the earpiece speaker and the second speaker.
In some embodiments, a portion of the phone""s rear surface inclines toward its front surface, and the second speaker is positioned against this inclined portion. In other embodiments, the rear surface is shaped to include a cavity, and the second speaker is positioned to project the sound waves through the cavity. In general, the rear surface is shaped so that, when resting against a rigid surface, the rear surface and the rigid surface together form a waveguide to direct sound waves projected by the second speaker away from the handset and into the surrounding room.
Other embodiments and advantages will become apparent from the following description and from the claims.